Ladybird, Ladybird by Alison Lock

I stop the sh sh across my page

to watch a squirrel nuzzle the ground

all auburn fuzz,  nose down

re- checking the co-ordinates

on a mental map for a nut called X

the shrubs wear their prettiest bonnets

of permed seed heads, legs

black stockinged from stalking

the late summer rains

the lawn has had its last trim of the year

concentric, whorled

shaved into an Italianate maze.

A four spotted ladybird comes to my sill

I lend her my pen for a bridge

I am curious

now there are six spots

two on the edge of her shell

as if about to fall off, and they do

with a shiver, she splits

into a pair of dash away wings

taking her back to her home.

I carry on with the sh sh across my page.


Alison Lock, UK

This poem is from Alison's collection  'A Slither of Air', published by Indigo Dreams Publishing